Cheers for the info, not sure why I didn’t see your post until now. I don’t think I’ve played a Hawk (edit: good Hawk) since Super tbh so I doubt I’ll have much chance to use it but thanks anyway 
Can I get some info vs the Sakura matchup? Why can’t I anti air her jumpins =_=
Her jumpins do have good priority but I think Rufus’ st.hp and cr.mp both work well in this matchup. It all depends on the distance though really; for example her air tatsu can be really annoying and is hard to stop with anything but ex ss if they do it from the right distance.
Can I get some help with the Ryu match up?
Watch Justin Wong vs. Daigo from CEO’s latest tournament.
And stop jumping in.
Diveman also wrote about the Ryu MU on #253.
Whiff punishing is a really big part of this MU. Most Ryu players try to play this MU like any other without being cautious of instant divekicks and Rufus’s c.HK. If they concentrate more on poking with normal moves like c.MK and c.HK instead of using more higher pokes and raw fireballs, then try to stay out of Ryu’s c.HK range up close and whiff punish them with divekicks and c.HK. IMO Daigo played the MU at CEO badly.
Thanks you guys
Can someone give me ways to approach the claw matchup? No matter what I do hespaces me out.
Don’t try to engage around his max poke range. Walk and block him to the corner. Look for an opportunity to get in his face. Get a feel for how anxious he is to get out of the corner and punish any attempts.
I needed a lot of help with Juri but there was nothing here, so I took the liberty of paraphrasing some of the stuff from the Juri match-up thread:
• Juri is weak against the rush, and even more so against Rufus’ rush. She cannot extend damage and combo-ability without holding :lk: Fuhajin, and this leaves her open to Rufus’ throw game quite a bit.
• She can absolutely bully you if you’re meter-less.
• Air-to-air normals = advantage: Rufus. Juri’s best answer for anything Rufus can throw out is j.mp. Even then, the trade is not in her favor against Rufus’ j.hp.
• A clever c.hp from Rufus can punish a Fuhajin charge at the right distances.
• EX Pinwheel beats :mk: follow up out of Messiah Kick.
• If Messiah Kick goes over Juri’s head, DON’T FOLLOW UP. You’ll be within c.mk range which will force a cautious approach from Juri.
• In alignment with the above, generally speaking Juri has a lot of trouble punishing Rufus for whiffs.
• Blocked Messiah Kick = free Ultra 2 before follow-up.
• Rufus cannot throw Juri out of her cr.hp motion at max throw ranges.
• While the air is generally Rufus’ turf, a well read dive kick can be punished with j.mp and subsequently lead into Ultra 1.
• Baiting EX Messiah is a huge part of this match. Juri’s c.mk on Rufus’ wake-up beats all of his options (aside from both Ultras). EX Messiah will do 1 or 2 hits then go over her head for a free punish.
• General strategy for Juri: bully at the beginning until he gets meter, bait EX Messiah Kicks and turtle thereafter.
Not sure how much of this is true, but hope it helps.
Looking for good akuma help, not sure how outdated the first post was
Two things…
1.) Started playing a lot at a local arcade and got the timing down for Rufus’ BNB. Now when I play online, I’m getting SRK’d out of it a lot. Any advice? Or does this just come with the territory?
2.) Also, the Blanka match is hard for me. I’ve read the advice in the M-U thread but none of it is that in-depth. I know you can only do :mp: xx GT on crouch, but I’m not sure how to punish ANYTHING he does, short of electricity.
1.) The 1 framer is more difficult online even on really good connections so yes it can be a problem. I only play online and as a result have made a point of knowing all the characters that st.lk -> st.mp works on, so maybe consider that if it’s becoming a big problem.
2.) It is a tricky match no doubt and it depends on their style of play, but this is one of the few matches where I find turtling with Rufus can be a good idea. As for combos st.lk -> st.mp xx GT works on a standing or crouching Blanka so it’s the go to combo on him. I made a video a little while ago covering some basic combos that are good against Blanka which might help 
[media=youtube]7LvBdxaIwyA[/media]
As per usual, thanks for the help.
Doesn’t st.LK, st.MP work on everyone though?
No. It doesn’t work on: Viper, Dan, Honda, Gen, Ken, Ryu, Sakura, Seth and Gief. According to the Rufus Combo thread. That’s outdated however, so you have to find out for yourself if it works on the new AE characters. Just learn HP xx Tornado and you should be fine, that’s what I do.
edit: I just re-read my post and it made me laugh after seeing the blanka video above. I meant to say that HP xx tornado is the general combo, MP xx tornado is the exception. The only times that HP xx tornado won’t work is if the HP will whiff. In those cases you should go for MP, but I’m sure you got that.
my go to combo vs blanka is:
divekick, cs.lk, c.mk xx hp tornado
works on standing and crouching blanka
you can punish all horizontal balls with walk forward, c.hp. lp ball is really tough, generally you need to be stand blocking to be able to catch him
Slide can be punished by:
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Close Range: cs.hp xx hp galactic tornado
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Mid range1: s.lkxs.hk target combo -> ultra
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Mid range2: c.mk hp galactic tornado
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Far1: c.mk xx ex gt
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Far2: ultra1
·[FONT=Times New Roman] [/FONT]Ultra 1 punishes slide no matter what, from any range
hope this helps!
Helps a ton! Thank you both!
You can punish Blanka’s slide with Ultra 1? From anywhere! How come I didn’t know that! Man, I need to spend more time in training mode. I’ve punished close ones with st.hp xx gt before and I normally opt for cr.lp xx ex gt for far ones as it’s easier than cr.mk, but I had no idea you could ultra. Thanks a lot!
As for lk - cr.mk on Blanka, yeah it does work but st.mp is an easier link. At least I think it is, feels easier anyway
but isn’t slide + frames from max distance, so you shouldn’t be able to punish with u1
max range blanka slide is +4 on block. Only really awful slides are able to be punished by u1 on block.
Blanka doesn’t really have a lot of reason to guess slide vs. Rufus anyways. Slides are generally to whiff punish bad divekicks, chase down messiah kicks, and to punish cr.hp on hit/block. The risk of eating a divekick or having it block punished or focused is just way too high.
If you want to be helpful you shouldn’t say things that aren’t true.
Blanka can safeball Rufus 100% of the time with LP ball. It’s never punishable unless Blanka messes up/doesn’t know how to space it properly.